Anyone Game? 2 Castles and a Road Trip TR! Last Day and TR Wrap Up! #2796; 10/01

[ejud]

OMG I remember film too! Rolls of 24 or 36 shots! You'd better make them good! I know I went to Disneyland in 2000 - I have FIVE PICTURES!!!!! in a big, old, hold in your lap photo album.....

I feel so old!

Oh ya! EVERY picture had to count! Cause not only limited, but you PAID for each picture!!!


A friend of mine, getting frustrated with his digicam, decided to re-employ his old SLR (A-1?) last week and took matching shots with each. His Digicam is a high end P&S, SX40, and there was no comparison! The digicam won in all aspects (let alone, not needing a brace to hold the lens. LOL!)

Corinna, yet another little detail about DLP that makes me so want to go!



Jud

 

[PrincessInOz]

OMG I remember film too! Rolls of 24 or 36 shots! You'd better make them good! I know I went to Disneyland in 2000 - I have FIVE PICTURES!!!!! in a big, old, hold in your lap photo album.....

I feel so old!

DH was talking about dusting off his old Minolta and taking some pictures with film at the weekend! I'm ignoring it for now.

I prefer them to WDW, but they are not as nice as at Disneyland. However, there is a great walkthrough display of landmarks all around Europe in typical IASW style when you come off the ride.

Corinna

Its great that the parks all have subtle differences to enjoy. A walkthrough? Nice!

Well when you finish this one all up, we can count the posts and add them to the posts on the PTR and figure out if you would have gone over the limit!

I am preparing to move. I have already five bankers boxes full of albums with pictures in them that were developed from film and then put on those sticky back pages. Heck I even have half a dozen albums that I ordered from the Kodak Gallery and Disney Photopass from my digital prints just so I could have one of those books to hold in my lap. If I ever get the time, I plan to make them for 2011, 2012 and 2013 as well. Last one was from 2010.

Safe packing!

We have an attic full of boxes and boxes of negatives. And I don't even want to think about the photo albums.

Oh ya! EVERY picture had to count! Cause not only limited, but you PAID for each picture!!!


A friend of mine, getting frustrated with his digicam, decided to re-employ his old SLR (A-1?) last week and took matching shots with each. His Digicam is a high end P&S, SX40, and there was no comparison! The digicam won in all aspects (let alone, not needing a brace to hold the lens. LOL!)

Corinna, yet another little detail about DLP that makes me so want to go!



Jud

Paying for print. Hmmm. Yes. We came back from an extended trip to Europe with over 40 rolls of film. It cost us a FORTUNE to print those.


That's a very good point. Maybe I'll encourage DH to pull out the Minolta and go head to head with the dSLR.

 

[rentayenta]

I prefer Disneyland's IASW to WDW's too. I haven't seen Hong Kong's so I can't compare.

 

[zanzibar138]

OMG I remember film too! Rolls of 24 or 36 shots! You'd better make them good! I know I went to Disneyland in 2000 - I have FIVE PICTURES!!!!! in a big, old, hold in your lap photo album.....

I feel so old!

I remember those days too! I was 11 when I got my first little film camera duty free on a trip to Bali. It had no zoom and I wasn't exactly camera savvy back then, so by the time the photos got developed, I'd forgotten what I was trying to take a photo of

I take thousands of photos when I go away these days - I can't even imagine being limited to 24 or 36

And not to mention those everyday photos of the dogs and cats etc that I just wouldn't take if I knew I had to pay for each photo.

I prefer them to WDW, but they are not as nice as at Disneyland. However, there is a great walkthrough display of landmarks all around Europe in typical IASW style when you come off the ride.

Corinna

Oh, I must have missed the walkthrough section Sounds like fun!

 

[Aussie Wendy]

I prefer them to WDW, but they are not as nice as at Disneyland. However, there is a great walkthrough display of landmarks all around Europe in typical IASW style when you come off the ride.

Corinna

I thought IASW dolls were the best in Paris but I couldn't remember DL well though to compare. I know I thought DL better than WDW when there. The dolls in DLP seemed closer to the boats and less space between them and perhaps some more inventive scenes as well - but could just be my wonky memory. I totally missed the display of landmarks when you get off the ride in DLP?? Darn it - I'll just have to pop back over there to look

 

[Aussie Wendy]

You know....I don't think I've been to Bli Bli Castle. Worth a visit?

Not worth a visit unless very bored on the sunshine coast like on a wet day! although if you have littlies (under 7 or 6 and not spoilt by DL expectations) they seem to like it. Been many years since I was there last though so who knows now! I can't even remember what else there is other than the hall of dolls in different costumes - climb around the battlements I think, there might be a dungeon? My old Gran and my Aunt loved it - but they also loved the Big Pineapple and the Big Banana (now both defunct)

 

[Aussie Wendy]

Our first big overseas trip to England and Europe - took a lot (for the time) of film in London and on the Europe trip - got it developed in England before we embarked on a campervan trip around the country and it came back funny coloured and with tear marks in half of the negatives. They'd had some major incident/fire in the premises they said and what we got was all they could salvage - so mostly its all just in my head now! We did take some negs in many years later and in the reprints the colours were much improved/normal for those that the negs were relatively undamaged-which makes me wonder what happened as obviously they didn't even try to fix. Now I have a negative scanner I should try and find the old negs and scan them to the computer (prob still in a box though might have suffered when I went through my ruthless-get rid of stuff I will never use again-phase when we moved a few years ago. I got rid of quite some stuff at one point - and regret it, hoarder that I am!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

I thought IASW dolls were the best in Paris but I couldn't remember DL well though to compare. I know I thought DL better than WDW when there. The dolls in DLP seemed closer to the boats and less space between them and perhaps some more inventive scenes as well - but could just be my wonky memory. I totally missed the display of landmarks when you get off the ride in DLP?? Darn it - I'll just have to pop back over there to look

i agree! IASW is really good in all parks I have been but best so far is Paris for the reasons you stated

 

[PrincessInOz]

I prefer Disneyland's IASW to WDW's too. I haven't seen Hong Kong's so I can't compare.

I thought IASW dolls were the best in Paris but I couldn't remember DL well though to compare. I know I thought DL better than WDW when there. The dolls in DLP seemed closer to the boats and less space between them and perhaps some more inventive scenes as well - but could just be my wonky memory. I totally missed the display of landmarks when you get off the ride in DLP?? Darn it - I'll just have to pop back over there to look

I seem to have a recollection that the dolls in Hong Kong were also closer to the boats and lower.

How about we go to DLP and DLHK to check....just to be sure?

Not worth a visit unless very bored on the sunshine coast like on a wet day! although if you have littlies (under 7 or 6 and not spoilt by DL expectations) they seem to like it. Been many years since I was there last though so who knows now! I can't even remember what else there is other than the hall of dolls in different costumes - climb around the battlements I think, there might be a dungeon? My old Gran and my Aunt loved it - but they also loved the Big Pineapple and the Big Banana (now both defunct)

I'll definitely follow your recommendations.

Our first big overseas trip to England and Europe - took a lot (for the time) of film in London and on the Europe trip - got it developed in England before we embarked on a campervan trip around the country and it came back funny coloured and with tear marks in half of the negatives. They'd had some major incident/fire in the premises they said and what we got was all they could salvage - so mostly its all just in my head now! We did take some negs in many years later and in the reprints the colours were much improved/normal for those that the negs were relatively undamaged-which makes me wonder what happened as obviously they didn't even try to fix. Now I have a negative scanner I should try and find the old negs and scan them to the computer (prob still in a box though might have suffered when I went through my ruthless-get rid of stuff I will never use again-phase when we moved a few years ago. I got rid of quite some stuff at one point - and regret it, hoarder that I am!

DH and I have that discussion every 2 years or so. I think we need to get a negative scanner ourselves.

i agree! IASW is really good in all parks I have been but best so far is Paris for the reasons you stated

This discussion is really interesting to me.....

I remember those days too! I was 11 when I got my first little film camera duty free on a trip to Bali. It had no zoom and I wasn't exactly camera savvy back then, so by the time the photos got developed, I'd forgotten what I was trying to take a photo of

I take thousands of photos when I go away these days - I can't even imagine being limited to 24 or 36

And not to mention those everyday photos of the dogs and cats etc that I just wouldn't take if I knew I had to pay for each photo.



Oh, I must have missed the walkthrough section Sounds like fun!

I think you need to go again.

.....and in fact, Zanzibar......I think you might be one of the few here that has hit DLR, DLP and HKDL (and I can't remember if you've been to WDW but I think you haven't yet headed that way yet). Do you have a preference for the different IaSW versions you've seen?





(And I didn't answer your previous question regarding the queue for the Iron Man simulation. There were about 4 or 5 kids in line and I think DH and I felt a little awkward about taking a turn with the little ones there. So, I don't know how long it would have taken to wait.)

 

[dolphingirl47]

Oh, I must have missed the walkthrough section Sounds like fun!

I thought IASW dolls were the best in Paris but I couldn't remember DL well though to compare. I know I thought DL better than WDW when there. The dolls in DLP seemed closer to the boats and less space between them and perhaps some more inventive scenes as well - but could just be my wonky memory. I totally missed the display of landmarks when you get off the ride in DLP?? Darn it - I'll just have to pop back over there to look

I hope they have not removed this. I have not been to DLP since spring 2010, which is kind of ironic considering how close it is. In the same period I have been to Disneyland 4 times and to WDW twice.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

I hope they have not removed this. I have not been to DLP since spring 2010, which is kind of ironic considering how close it is. In the same period I have been to Disneyland 4 times and to WDW twice.

Corinna

 

[PrincessInOz]

Prelude

When planning for this trip, the item at the very top of my must-do list at DLR was Mickey and the Magical Map. Since my last visit, this is one item that has been added to the Disneyland attraction list and one that I had not seen before.


This new 25 minute live musical show opened at the re-vamped Fantasyland Theatre in May of 2013 and I don’t ever remember seeing a live musical show on stage at Disneyland….ever!






This one…had amazing technology. I don’t know how much this screen cost but it’s easily the coolest piece of technology I’ve seen at Disney in a while.







I made no secret about the fact that this show was top of my list; and both Alison and Bret were happy to accommodate. It was outside the theatre that franandaj finally completed the coven of Lasters at Disneyland that day.
We were lucky to snag seats in the second row in the middle section….so that meant we would have a very up close view of the show.






Even better….the mother and daughter sitting right in front of me noticed my camera and parted to make way for me to get relatively clear shots of the stage.







I don’t think they were Dis-sers but wherever they are….ladies…..I thank you for your generosity and understanding!









Mickey and the Magical Map



Have you ever had that moment where the magic of Disney just hits you?






I had waited all day and wondered when the tears of joy….of pure emotion…..would hit me. The moment where you have that one instance of clarity…..






….of hitting a high note…….






……the moment of perfect unison….






……that strikes you at the very core and you end up crying.


That feeling of being home….being with old friends…….finally hit me when I sat down to enjoy the one thing at Disneyland I had yet to experience.






(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


It was here, during the strains of very familiar songs, that I found some clarity of thought. I think I had mentioned in the intro that it had been a pretty challenging year for me this year. Who would have thought that this little 25 minute interlude would provide me with the opportunity to work through and shed a number of mental burdens that I had carried with me for most of this year?


Certainly not me!


It was, afterall, a most incongruous place to be having such thoughts; especially when I was enjoying the show.

But somewhere between the “I Wanna Be Like You”…..











….and “Just Around the Riverbend”….






…where I had felt like I had constantly paddled upstream this year…..






….I found some “Reflection” time…..











….and finally…”I See the Light”.






It had been somewhat of a song…







….and dance at work this year.






With so many random thoughts, I needed to pull the kaleidoscope of colour together.






And because of the workplace pressures, I’d been “Under the Sea”…..







….by taking on a heavy workload because there was no one else….






….I’d pretty much been working in a foggy bubble all year.







I had completely been unable to see that whilst I enjoy what I do and the current company that I am at; the program of work that I am at is one that I do not enjoy.


It had definitely been a case of backwards…..






….more than forward steps all year.








It had been a real “Hawaiian Roller Coaster Ride” for me.






But now, I needed to completely flip things around.






Like….really flip things round.











And having come to this realisation, I need to “Dig a Little Deeper”…….






….and whilst I didn’t have to sing it from the rooftops…..






….it was something that deserved a little celebratory jump over.







……and the “Journey of the Imagination” was complete when I realised that I needed to stop putting up with the situation and change things up when I returned home.








That was a thought I was to hold on to and ponder for the next couple of weeks. I needed to figure out what I wanted to change and what I wanted it to change to.







(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


DisMeet #4: 5ofUs




It is approximately 550 miles between Melbourne and Sydney. Certainly a LOT closer than the 8,000 or so miles between either city, and Los Angeles.


Logic would dictate that if someone from Sydney and someone from Melbourne would want to meet in 3D, it would be cheaper and simpler to travel the short distance between those two cities.

But logic means a big fat zero when expediency is involved.



Turns out that one of the Aussies at DLR wanted to DisMeet with me afterall!

Before we left Oz, we had completed the necessary communications to set up a vague meet-up at Disneyland. Again, it had been similar arrangements to those with BringingUpDisney. It seems that everyone’s plan for attacking the Anaheim parks are the same - DCA at rope drop to pick up a FP for RSR; hit Toy Story Mania and then back to Carsland.



Well….5ofUs and I were texting each other during the day and it turns out that their day didn’t exactly start out as planned. But we kept the occasional text messages up and it was just before the show that we figured out that meeting outside the Fantasyland Theatre at the end of the show would be our DisMeet opportunity.






Yup. No one can deny that us Aussies are intrepid travellers. It really is a Small World afterall!







We managed to spend about 15 minutes chatting before we needed to get back to our respective families.



5ofUs – Thanks for making the effort and I had a great time meeting you in 3D. I hope that we will travel the 550 miles next time to meet up….instead of the 8,000.









Wait! What. AM. I thinking????

See you at Disneyland!








(Continued in Next Post)

 

[PrincessInOz]

(Continued from Previous Post)


The LASTer’s Supper: Café Orleans



Both Bret and franandaj visit Disneyland more times in the space of a year than I will ever have the opportunity to in my lifetime. I have been very fortunate in my last couple of visits to Disneyland of being able to enjoy in their company and to have a small insight into what it means to be an annual pass holder to the parks.

Thus when it comes to matters of the stomach, I will defer to their superior knowledge. And there is nothing more certain for healthy people at Disney than the realisation that we will eventually need to eat.



In our plans for the day, the locals decided to make an ADR to a favourite café. Turns out, it was one of ours as well.

So we headed from Fantasyland to this part of the park.












I understand that this area may no longer be available to the general public. There are rumours of changes to convert this area to be part of the Club 33 entry. I took the opportunity to capture some memories whilst I still can.






Our dining destination was none other than Café Orleans.






We all checked out the specials menu! One particular item on the menu caught everyone’s eye; but we didn’t end up getting a serve at all!






After contemplating the standard menu, I think Bret, my DS and I decided to share.






After placing our orders, we took the opportunity to capture the official Laster’s DisMeet evidence.






It’s just as well we took the picture when we did. We were completely occupied with eating shortly thereafter.


We had the Pomme Frites to share.






Fran and Alison always split and share their meals. So they ordered a serve of the French Onion soup. I’ll admit to order envy. I think this soup is one of the best dishes in Disneyland.






They also got a serve of the Monte Cristo’s. As did I, to share with my DS and Bret.






DS will have cheese with anything! So it came as no surprise that he wanted the 3 Cheese Christo. I don’t blame him. This was so good and it was hard to pick between this and the standard Christo. Again, this was something that we shared with Bret.







There definitely was Monte Christo leftovers and we boxed it up to go.



DH decided on the N’awlins Vegetable Ragout. He enjoyed his meal.






Dinner was really enjoyable. Afterall, we were in the company of 2D friends-in-a-box that had spent the last 2 years hanging out together and chatting on a daily basis. The conversation just carried on from where we had left off on the Dis; and I savoured the moment….just enjoying the reality of being in each other’s company…..after all the planning discussions that had gone on over the last 2 – 3 months for these couple of days.

 

[zanzibar138]

I can't believe you're still on day 1! What a packed itinerary!

Sounds like the new show is worth seeing, and you were so close to the stage! Glad you had your 'moment' Sounds like some change would be a good idea We spend so long at work, it really needs to be something we can at least tolerate.

I say this to all people who say that HKDL is a 'one day' park (or even a 'half day' park). I have spent 6 full days there and have yet to experience their version of IASW Having said that, it wasn't high on my priority list either time. But I will just have to make time for it on my next visit

I can't say I'm really an IASW aficionado though... I didn't really prefer one over the other.

And you are correct, I have yet to visit WDW. TBH, it's not high on my priority list, especially with FP+. It's a bit overwhelming to have to think about what I will feel like eating, or what attraction I will want to hit 6 months in advance

 

[dgbg100106]

lovely update...

The show was beautiful, I have only been to DL once and I was kid when I was there, some 25 years ago... A lot has changed since then.

I need to get out there.

Food porn at it finest!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Great update! I am not surprised you had your epiphany during that show. It sounds amazing. I have not had the pleasure but I know times when the parades and shows have taken my breathe away and I just want to freeze time. All my pain melts away and I feel more alive and happy than I can say.

That Cafe Orleans yum! The food looks very good indeed. Why do I always read these at lunch time lol. It's like they say never go to the supermarket before lunch when you are hungry you buy more than you need! I'm looking around my kitchen thinking there is nothing as sexy as that going on here!

It is interesting the differences between the rides and attractions at the different parks. My favourite Space Mountain is Paris also. It's a much smoother ride. But Paris parades just don't have it. Sadly the French don't give the Disney magical feeling as well I don't think. I prefer my CM to hand me my lunch not throw it at me lol..

 

[mvf-m11c]

A very nice update PiO.

Mickey and the Magical Map show which opened this summer is a nice show at the Fantasyland Theater. It was nice to take pictures and videotape that day from where we sat. Here is my video of Disneyland Mickey and the Magical Map Full Show 9/15/13 that I videotaped with PiO and franandaj.

That was neat that you got to have a DISMeet with another DISer that day.

The food at Cafe Orleans is great as always. But as you said that the Monte Cristo sandwich can easily fill you up and you can't finish it unless you have a big appetite.

 

[Leshaface]

Mickey and the Magical Map show which opened this summer is a nice show at the Fantasyland Theater. It was nice to take pictures and videotape that day from where we sat. Here is my video of Disneyland Mickey and the Magical Map Full Show 9/15/13 that I videotaped with PiO and franandaj.

Thanks for posting this! I'll be checking this out later. Looks like such a fantastic show!